The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-06-19
STARTLING STATISTICS.
The Civil Wars Cost in Human Lives
Most Destructive Ever Waged.
From a Washington Special.

From Washington Special.
heard one of the young generation say
ing he was little tired of hearing contin-
ually, and especially every year, about
Memorial day, OF the immense sacrifice of
lives and treasure made by the people in the
great civil war and all that. The tone i'm
piled that it was not such terrible thing
after all, and was rather small potatoes as
wars go. 1t is well enough to freshen up
the minds of the boys as to the facts of that
war, and what it cost their fathers 1t takes
but few figures to show that it was one of
the greatest and most momentous wars ever
waged among civilized people, and taking
into consideration It's length, the most de-
sti'uctive, costly and murderous ever waged.
Most of the famous wars of ancient his
tory that the young men pore over in Latin
and Greek We're not very great wars after
all, compared with that fought out by their
fathers for the salvation Of the American
republic
Look over these dreadful figures, young
man, and consider the awful Significance of
the following facts:
Official returns show that about 9, 900, 900
soldiers enlisted during the war in response
to the successive calls of President Lincoln,
and that of this number 1S6, 09S We're coIored
troops.
Reports show that the Northern and
Southern armies met in over 1900 skirm-
iSheS and battles. In l4S of these conflicts
the loss ON the Federal side was over 500
men, and in at least 10 battles over 10000
men We're reported lost on each side The
appended table shows that the combined
losses of the Federal and Confederate forces
in 1illed, wounded and missing, in the fol-
lowing engagements were
Shiloh, 1900; Antetam $4,000: Stone
river, 81, 900; Charlottesville, $4,000; Get
tysburg, $4,000; ChicS amauga, $1,000; Nc
Clelan's peninsula campaign, 10000, and
Grants peninsula campaign, 125,000.
Official statistics show that of the 5000
coo men enlisted, there were killed in battle
44,2Ss; died of wounds, 1926; died Of dis
ease, 1856, 2l6; died of unknown causes, "a, =
1884, total, sos, S4S. This includes only those
whose death while in the army had been
actually proven To this number should be
added, first, 10000 men who are known to
have died while in the hands of the enemy
| as prisoners of war, and many others in the
same manner whose deaths are umecorded /;
second, a fair percentage of the POS, 794 men
who are put on the official reports as desert
ers and r:issing in action, for those who
participated in the war know that men fire.
quently disappear who, it was certain, had
not deserted, yet could not be otherwise
officially accounted for; third, thousands
who are buried in private cemeteries all over
the North who died while at home on fur
Tough.
The nations dead are buried in 70 national
cemeteries, of which only IL are in the
Northern States. Among the principal ones
in the North are Cypress Hill, with its 3, 1856
dead; Firms Point, N. j., which contains
the remains of AGA unknown dead ;Gettys-
burg Pa, with its 1867 known and sos
unknown dead Mound City, H., with 2,505
known and 2,72l unknown graves; Philadel-
phia, with 500 dead, and Woodlawn,
Elmira, N. Y, with its $500 deed
In the South, near the scenes of terrible
conflicts, are located the largest repositories
of the nations dead;